Peace be with… Me

Summary

The author discusses their holistic approach to achieving personal peace, which encompasses physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being.

Abstract

The author, a former athletic coach, emphasizes the importance of listening to one's body, particularly in the context of recovering from a knee injury. They share how routine exercise is integral to their energy levels and overall peace, contributing to blood sugar control, weight management, and daily outdoor activity. Mental peace is achieved through active meditations like walking and swimming, and engaging in mental puzzles and writing on Medium. Emotionally, the author seeks calmness by avoiding excessive news and commentary, and by maintaining an open mind on social media. Spiritual peace is found in daily gratitude practices, adherence to the golden rule, and acts of kindness. The author finds balance and inner peace by managing their physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health, and by granting themselves permission to decline social engagements when necessary.

Opinions

The author values routine exercise as a source of energy rather than a cause of fatigue.
Exercise is seen as a method for managing physical health, including blood sugar levels and weight.
Mental exercises, such as puzzles and writing, are deemed essential for mental well-being.
The author prefers to form their own opinions rather than adopting those of others, especially in the context of news consumption and social media interaction.
Emotional balance is maintained by avoiding overexposure to potentially distressing content and by not engaging in anger over uncontrollable situations.
Spiritual peace is achieved through gratitude, following the golden rule, and performing random acts of kindness.
The author believes in the importance of personal balance across physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual dimensions for achieving inner peace.
The author views protective measures like mask-wearing during a pandemic as a way to preserve personal freedom rather than restrict it.

Peace Be With… Me

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My energy levels are a bit low. I hurt my left knee walking last Wednesday. I was barely able to limp home and decided to not push it and listen to my body. As a former athletic coach there is a saying: if you can’t walk don’t run. If you can’t walk without limping, don’t walk. I have been taking it easier and doing what I can to quicken the recovery by stretching, icing, massaging, and compressing where it happened.

One thing I have learned about the process is that I like routines. I have said in the past that working out does not tire me. I have said it gives me energy. I can confirm that. I have tried minor walks but do not wish to aggravate it again to lose another week or longer. It is not that I am afraid. I just want to get back to my routine as soon as I can and that means sustaining it.

This brings me to what peace means to me. Physically, it means having control of my body. Exercise is a big part of that. I do not do intense exercise. It has been years since I worked with weights. Many years more since I used to run. But exercise is very important to my peace. It helps me control my blood sugar levels. It helps me control my weight. It helps me get out of my house daily for fresh air. It helps by giving me energy. I am more tired and have a lower energy level than when I was doing my daily exercise. The day goes slower. A major part of that is that three hours of my day is now freed up.

Mentally, my exercise helps a lot with as well. Walks and swims are active meditations for me. My mind is free to wander or focus on something it needs to focus on. How do I decide? I don’t. I let my mind take care of that usually. Once in a while I have a thought locked in before I start. Usually my mind focuses on that, but not always. Sometimes the triage system puts it on hold and thinks on what needs to be thought about. Mentally, I also need to exercise. I do that by doing mental puzzles daily. I also use Medium posts to exercise my thoughts. Thankfully people here help me with that. Thank you so much.

Emotionally I seek calmness. I am a swimmer. I try to ride the currents. I do my best not to get angry. That is especially true for situations that are out of my control. One way I do this is to not spend too much time on commentary. I look at the news in the morning. I look for facts. I look for information. I feel that I can make my own opinions. I do not need to have others give theirs to form mine. One place this is difficult to do is social media platforms. Spending too much time reading posts can be detrimental to emotional peace. I try to just look at posts of friends and those of pictures and experiences. If I feel my balance ebb I get away from it. Even posts by people that have similar views on things are not good. That is because they tend to solidify thoughts and as much as you can you need to keep your mind open to the possibility of different truths.

Spiritually, I find peace by practicing gratitude daily. I work on being a good person and being a better person. I work on adding positivity in the daily lives of people I interact with. I try to practice the “golden rule”: do onto others as you would wish they do unto you. I don’t expect others to treat me that way. I appreciate when they do. I practice gratitude if they do. I try to find lessons of patience, calmness, turning the other cheek, and gifts of kindness if they don’t. I try to practice gifts of kindness no matter what. Random anonymous ones are best. Passing on kindness is another favorite.

I make peace with myself in this very chaotic world by doing what I think is reasonable. Many think wearing a mask is taking away their freedom. I view it as giving me mine. By wearing one, by being careful, and by choosing what I do, I find peace. I also give myself the permission to say no. If I am not physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually ready to do something socially. I just say no.

Ultimately, peace to me is balance. It is dealing with the physical (world and my body), mental, emotional, and spiritual me. If one lags, my energy lags. If I get out of balance I take inventory. I try to objectively see what I have been neglecting. My health situation and my former life as a runner taught me to listen to my body. I work hard on doing that. Over time I have added the other three.

With balance comes inner peace.